Barrett poised for April start at Blues
Leon MacDonald will have to make do without one All Blacks superstar until mid-April but is banking on another coming in highly motivated from the off as he looks to make centre his home in 2020.
The Blues coach put his players through a contact five-a-side hitout on Thursday as preparations ramp up for a Super Rugby season that kicks off impossibly early with a January 31 derby opener against the Chiefs at Eden Park.
Gone are the days, said MacDonald, when you did not introduce full tackling until after the new year.
But he and his peers remain very much anchored in a period when their leading players must be managed like precious commodities.
So star new signing Beauden Barrett will not make his first appearance for the franchise until the middle of April, MacDonald confirmed, with the All Blacks playmaker taking an extended holiday that was front and centre of his new deal.
Barrett had already attended a session or two with his new squad to start the process of getting to know his team-mates but MacDonald said the plan was for the world-class No 10/fullback to be ‘‘on the grass’’ by mid-April.
That could seem him on board for the
April 11 fixture against the Hurricanes at Eden Park – a likely target for obvious reasons – or possibly the clash against the Jaguares a week later.
That leaves the Blues to get through the first nine matches of their 16-game regular season without their star new signing – a situation MacDonald said he had long ago got his head around.
He has plenty of options to cover 10 until Barrett’s arrival in the form of the fitagain Stephen Perofeta, Otere Black and Harry Plummer.
‘‘We’re happy, he’s happy, and it’s no different to guys coming back late through injury or whatever the cause. So you adapt with players coming and going all the time,’’ he said.
No plan had been put in place yet around Barrett’s return, though MacDonald indicated it was likely to involve a hitout of some form at either club or development level.
The Blues coach also confirmed he was committed to giving man-on-a-mission Rieko Ioane the chance to nail down centre as his preferred position in 2020.
The 22-year-old is coming off a disappointing 2019 season in which he lost his spot as a starting All Blacks wing and is desperate to make his mark in the midfield in Super Rugby.
‘‘We’re committed to giving Rieko a good crack at centre,’’ added MacDonald. ‘‘It will be up to him whether he becomes the starting centre. But I’ve seen him play centre and he’s pretty outstanding there as well.’’
It shapes as a big season for Ioane after his first setback since storming into the All Blacks as a power wing of the highest calibre.
After losing his spot to George Bridge for the business end of the season, he has plenty to prove at Super Rugby time.
MacDonald will get the rest of his All Blacks and English import Joe Marchand back when they reassemble on January 3 to start the countdown to the season proper.
As has now become the norm, they won’t appear in any pre-season matches (the Blues meet the Chiefs in Waihi on January 17 and Hurricanes at the Onewa Domain on January 24) and will be on managed minutes through the early rounds of the competition.
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